Compare and Contrast Person Centred with Psychodynamic

When comparing and contrasting the differences in the three approaches, I will review the relationship between client and counsellor. I will attempt to discover how the relationship is formed and how it is maintained during the therapeutic process. Once this has been established, I will then look at how the changes occur in the therapeutic relationship and which techniques will be used. I will compare and contrast the approaches of Carl Rogers, Sigmund Freud and Albert Ellis. I will look at how their theories have impacted on the counselling processes in modern times and throughout history.

In the humanistic approach in counselling there is a vital importance that the core conditions between client and counselling are present from the outset for the relationship to exist. Roger stated that the core conditions were “necessary and sufficient conditions of therapeutic personality change.” (Mcleod 2001) Without the core conditions being present, there is no hope for the therapeutic movement for the client. Empathy is seen as being with the client, this is going into the clients frame of reference and experiencing the emotions and feelings that the client is experiencing at that particular moment in time. In 1986 Rogers underlined empathy as “ To my mind, empathy is in itself a healing agent. It is one of the most potent aspects of therapy, because it releases, it confirms, it brings even the most frightening client into the human race. If a person is understood, he or she belongs” (Merry 2002) To me this sentence is what empathy is in a nut shell, this shows that the client is being understood, and the counsellor is secure in their own identity so that they don’t get overwhelmed in the client world. Another of the core conditions is congruence, this is the genuineness of the counsellor. This is where the counsellor has understanding of the complex feelings, thoughts and the attitudes of the client. However there is a fine line between the counsellor an